Why 'In His Grip'?

In Philippians 3:12, the Apostle Paul explains the reason for which Christ laid hold of him: Christ Himself!

It is my sincere intention that this blog will be an occasion for taking hold of that for which Christ has taken hold of me. I welcome you to join me in rejoicing in the supremacy of Christ as the 'bottom line' measure of all things.

If it is true that 'when there are many words, transgression is unavoidable' (see Proverbs 10:19) and knowing that we will give account for every careless word (Matthew 12:36), I expect that my future blog entries will be both centered on the Scriptures, and relatively brief.

Look forward to a number of initial entries, and Lord willing, updates at least weekly.

So I invite your participation with the expectation both that Christ will be glorified and that you will be patient with this inexperienced blogger!

In His Grip,

Mark

Comments

  1. Mike RiccardiJanuary 27, 2010 at 8:13 PM

    Welcome to the blogosphere, brother! I look forward to what the Lord puts on your heart to share with us.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Jonathan SuarezJanuary 28, 2010 at 3:48 AM

    I'm stoked about this, Mark :).

    This is something I very much look to reading throughout this semester and joining you in bringing glory to our Most High God.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Psalm 119:75

(This is an entry from a devotional commentary I am working on from Psalm 119 entitled ‘God and His Word’.   The introduction can be found here , successive entries have covered the 22 sections of the Psalm, and following entries verse by verse.)   "I know, O LORD, that Your judgments are righteous, And that in faithfulness You have afflicted me."   In this section, Yodh, the Psalmist seeks comfort (v. 76) and compassion (v. 77) because of Your affliction (v.75) and the subversion of the arrogant (v. 78).   We had just seen in v. 67 and v.71 the good that comes from affliction, and now we see here that this affliction is from You and an expression of Your faithfulness.   Of course this is true, since all good comes from You.   This is part of the ‘exceeding faithfulness’ of Your word (v. 138).   Through affliction we truly seek You (Psalm 78:34, Hosea 5:15).   Through affliction comes praise and satisfac...
Read more

God and His Wisdom: An Introduction to Proverbs

“The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel: To  know  wisdom and discipline, To  understand  the sayings of understanding, To  receive  discipline that leads to insight, Righteousness, justice, and equity, To  give  prudence to the simple, To the youth knowledge and discretion; Let the wise man  hear  and  increase  in learning, And a man of understanding will  acquire  guidance, To  understand  a proverb and an enigma, The words of the wise and their riddles. The fear of Yahweh is the beginning of knowledge; Ignorant fools despise wisdom and discipline.” (Proverbs 1:1-7 LSB, with emphasis)   “My son, if you will  receive  my words And  treasure  my commandments within you, To  make your ear pay attention  to wisdom, Incline your heart  to discernment; For if you  call out  for understanding, Give your voice  for discernment; If you  ...
Read more

Disciples: Born, or Made?

(This is a continuation of the topic 'On Shepherding and Discipleship' ) So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has  cannot be my disciple. (Luke 14:33 ESV) And he said to them, "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men."  Immediately they left their nets and followed him. (Matthew 4:19-20 ESV) "Lee, what do the disciples do?", I said to my (then) five year old son.  "They follow Jesus," he said.  Indeed.  Disciples follow Jesus.  There is much that can be unfolded here regarding the cultural context of the Jewish rabbi (teacher), but suffice to say that to be a disciple of someone was to fully submit to following their teaching and way of life.  It was a total commitment. While the Scriptures give no illusion that the life of a Christian is a sinless one (see 1 John 1:8-10), it knows nothing of a Christian whose heart and life are not unalterably changed to become more like Christ.  A journey through 1 John...
Read more